Dutch gov't advanced over €168 million in damages to crime victims in 8 years

Between 2016 and 2024, the Dutch government advanced over 168 million euros to victims of crimes awarded damages by the court. Convicted perpetrators have only repaid a limited proportion of this amount, NOS reports based on data from the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB).

Judges can award victims of a crime compensation, which the perpetrator must pay. If the perpetrator is unable to do so immediately, because they don’t have the money or first have to serve a prison sentence, the government advances the awarded amount to prevent the victim from having to wait a long time. This happens about 9,000 times a year.

The government then reclaims that money from the perpetrator, though that often takes years. Of the 168 million euros that the government advanced in recent years, only 49 million euros have been repaid so far. Only a tenth of the advances from 2024 have been repaid. Two-thirds of the 2016 amount has been repaid. According to the CJIB, it recovers the full amount in about 80 percent of the cases.

Victim support organizations are advocating for a more generous advance regulation. According to them, many violent crime victims end up in financial trouble because their main breadwinner was murdered, for example. Or they’ve lost income because they’re unable to work after being attacked.